Ric Flair: Best Of All Time?

King Steventon · 09-03-2009, 10:22 AM

Has a great resume and probably has a higher number of "good" matches than anyone else, but I think I'd rather watch a random Rock match than a random Flair match (not that I'm saying Rock is the best of all time).

What say you?

Y 2 Jake · 09-03-2009, 10:35 AM

The most overrated of all time. Took full advantage of the territory system.

I'm of the opinion that if Ric Flair was really as good as people say he was, then half of his career wouldn't have been shit and the WWE DVDs, both of them, would've had more matches.

horrorfan_1986 · 09-03-2009, 11:09 AM

Had Flair retired around 1994 or so, he quite possibly could be the best of all time. However, he had a solid decade or even longer of putting on mediocre match after mediocre match. Granted, he had a few matches this decade that adds to his legacy, but most of the matches only takes away from the quality of it.

KenTheKiller · 09-03-2009, 01:23 PM

I think this decade has helped what the mid/late 90s ruined. You can say what you want about not necessarily having the best matches but he had a lot of really good/fun - great matches this decade and was put over as a true legend, unlike in WCW where he was pretty much buried.

Bigpapa42 · 09-03-2009, 03:59 PM

I respect the hell out of Flair and his career. But I do think he is a guy who damaged his legacy somewhat by the length of his career. And "best of all time" is so open and subjective, especially you consider that some guys are hard to find significant footage on, so its tough to really gauge them properly.

Mr. Kennedy · 09-03-2009, 04:32 PM

Why would the end of his career hurt his overall legacy? There have been plenty of athletes that had had their careers end with them being bad or mediocre, but that doesn't affect their legacy.

While Flair wasn't the best technical wrestler (though he was really good), as a overall package I do think he is the best. His mic skills, his charisma, his personality, his ring skills. When you add up everything, I think he has a good claim to be the best.

For those voting no, I would be interested in who they think was better.

LadyHotrod · 09-03-2009, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by horrorfan_1986
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Had Flair retired around 1994 or so, he quite possibly could be the best of all time. However, he had a solid decade or even longer of putting on mediocre match after mediocre match. Granted, he had a few matches this decade that adds to his legacy, but most of the matches only takes away from the quality of it.

This.

I hate Flair but I wont deny how good he was. His problem is that he just wanted to keep going forever, even with the flappy man tits, and he should have stopped a long time ago. He outdid his stay and none of his extra time has really been all that great.

God · 09-03-2009, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Kennedy
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

For those voting no, I would be interested in who they think was better.

Bret Hart for me. Flair used to be great, but the fact that he dragged it out for so long has taken him down a good few places in my book. Like Jim said, had he retired in '94, it would be a lot harder to say no.

King Steventon · 09-03-2009, 04:42 PM

Jim pretty much beat me to the punch on what I was going to say. I think Flair may be the best champion ever, and maybe the most charismatic wrestler ever. He was arguably wrestler of the decade in the 80's, and he was still pretty good for the early 90's, but his after that he more or less went to crap. Well, maybe that is harsh, but certainly not good. The man who looked like the lesser worker in a match with a roided up Steiner in 2000 did not look like a GOAT. This decade has had a handful of great outings like the HHH matches in 2005 and one or two others. You could probably count them on two hands whilest he's had a lot of average stuff.

I think he has a good case for best US wrestler ever maybe, but I think Steamboat, Funk (need to see more pre-ECW) and Benoit all have fairly equal claims.

Bigpapa42 · 09-03-2009, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Kennedy
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Why would the end of his career hurt his overall legacy? There have been plenty of athletes that had had their careers end with them being bad or mediocre, but that doesn't affect their legacy.

While Flair wasn't the best technical wrestler (though he was really good), as a overall package I do think he is the best. His mic skills, his charisma, his personality, his ring skills. When you add up everything, I think he has a good claim to be the best.

For those voting no, I would be interested in who they think was better.

I think it depends on the exact question being asked. When you are looking at something like "greatest of all time" questions or issues of someone's legacy, you have to look at a career as a whole. Which means taking into consideration the poorer periods. Whether they came at the beginning, middle, or end.

You use the example oone who likes the same sexreat sports athlete playing beyond their prime. Does that take away from them being the greatest of all time? No, but it has to be taken into consideration because that is part of their career. Part of their legacy. Just as if they had to bad years in the middle of their career for some reason.

I would like to think Misawa should be in any arguement, just based on the pure quality of some of his work. Yeah, he couldn't match up in terms of charisma or mic work... but in Japan, that was not really so much an issue.

Ric Flair: Best Of All Time?

This is a discussion on Ric Flair: Best Of All Time? within the General Pro Wrestling : Classic & General forums, part of the Wrestling Forums category; Has a great resume and probably has a higher number of "good" matches than anyone else, but I think I'd ...